H.E. Mr. Abraha AsfahaMinister of Public Works, Government of the State of
Eritrea,

Twenty-fifth Special Session of the General Assembly

New YorkJune 7, 2001

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to address the twenty-fifth special session of
the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of the State of Eritrea.

Five years after Istanbul, we are meeting here in New York to review
and appraise the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and renew our commitments
for further actions and initiatives to deal with old and new situations.

While my country cannot claim the successful implementation of the twin
goals of the Istanbul Declaration and its agenda, owing to the limited
resources at its disposal, considerable efforts are being carried out to
address some of the fundamental issues that are regarded vital in meeting
the housing demands and sustainable human settlements. To mention a few,
the land proclamation of 1994 and security of tenure are two important
legal measures that have fundamentally changed access to land use and ownership
of properties in Eritrea.

One of the first important steps in the urban housing policy is the
legal and administrative measure that are taken to resolve problems related
to security of tenure, once and for all.

The second piece of legislation pertains to the land proclamation,
presumably difficult to implement, but largely believed to promote growth
by making land available to business and residential purposes. But more
importantly, the legislative measure is introduced to ensure unhindered
and equitable access to land and properties by women, irrespective of their
marital status.

The latter reform, enshrined in the constitution of the State of Eritrea,
is central to the empowerment of women for a sustainable development of
the country. These legislative measures and others, including the labor
laws, are introduced on the basis of non-discrimination and are primarily
aimed at ensuring uniform geographic development while closing the social
and economic gaps between gender, age group, social status and disabled
persons.

Lately, my government, in partnership with United Nations Center for
Human Settlements (HABITAT), has been able to launch a low cost housing
development programme by involving the low-income community to participate
in the construction of their own shelter using local materials.

For these types of programmes to expand and be sustainable, my government
is attempting to create conducive environment that will promote the active
participation of the private sector and all other stakeholders, especially
the resident participation approach, which can be instrumental for combating
and alleviating poverty.

To narrow the gap of access to social services between rural and urban
centers, my government has been actively engaged in the construction of
physical and social infrastructures even in the remotest areas of the country.

This modest but important step towards responding adequately to the
housing needs and other social services is taking place against the backdrop
of the legacies of occupation, conflict and invasion that have adversely
impacted the development of the country. The border conflict between my
country and Ethiopia, in the past three years, that affected about 1.6
million people has created different categories of victims: the internally
displaced people (IDPs), voluntary refugee returnees and expellees with
each group demanding specific response to its needs.

Moreover, the interplay between war and drought in certain regions of
the country is pushing the social safety nets and the government's resources
to the limit. In this regard, my delegation is particularly grateful for
the inclusion of vulnerable groups such as the IDPs and refugees in the
present draft declaration, which, I believe will be adopted by this special
session.

Mr. President,

Before I conclude my brief statement, let me share with this august
Assembly our experience with regard to the importance of urban governance
as stated in the report of the Executive Director of Habitat, which my
government fully subscribes to. The principles and goals of improved urban
governance try to create close relationship between the decision making
body and the executing local authority. While Eritrea has adopted decentralization
as a policy and has put the administrative structures in place, the lack
of strong institutional and financial bases is hampering the transfer of
administrative capability to local bodies. The strengthening of institutional
framework is therefore very vital for the attainment of improved urban
governance. Furthermore, I wish to make some preliminary remarks about
the concept of partnership with local authorities. For this concept to
be successful, the participation of the private sector and NGOs, including
twining of cities, should be done in full cooperation and coordination
of the donor community and the central authority.

Mr. President,

Let me seize this moment to renew my government's strong political commitment
towards the full implementation of the Declaration of Istanbul + 5.